University News

She Once Covered the Wahoos. Now She Captures the Splashiest Team in Baseball

June 27, 2024 • By Andrew Ramspacher, fpa5up@virginia.edu Andrew Ramspacher, fpa5up@virginia.edu

Kelsey Grant walking out with various camera gear to capture a game

UVA alumna Kelsey Grant is in her second season as team photographer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

Drenched in champagne and chlorine, Kelsey Grant sat in her office and went to work. When your job requires you to document a Major League Baseball organization with a unique victory tradition, this is the pinnacle.

Grant’s first season as team photographer for the Arizona Diamondbacks didn’t wrap last November without a few celebratory dips in the pool beyond the right-center field wall at Arizona’s Chase Field. The 2016 University of Virginia alumna, egged on by the Diamondback players, jumped in twice in a span of two weeks, commemorating a couple of landmark wins for the franchise en route to its National League title and berth in the World Series.

“I brought a change of clothes,” Grant said, “and I was very glad because I was completely soaked. … I was gross, but it was fun.”

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Grant’s photos from these games and the chaotic scenes that followed – some filed quickly from her desk, fresh out of the pool – add to a portfolio that’s been growing since she first volunteered at the Cavalier Daily as a first-year student. The media studies major – and self-taught photographer – longed to be with a camera at a ballpark.

Grant, a multi-sport athlete at Justice High School in Falls Church, comes from a baseball family. Her grandfather was the scouting director for the New York Yankees. She has two uncles coaching in the minor leagues and a cousin playing in the Miami Marlins organization.

It was naturally a big thrill for Grant when she drew her first assignment of shooting a UVA game at Disharoon Park, then known mainly as Davenport Field.

“They (Cavalier Daily editors) made me work up to it,” Grant said. “They made me shoot a couple of other things before I shot a baseball game. I was so nervous, but so excited to finally get to be down on the field. It was so cool. Davenport was beautiful.”

Grant stands on the side of the field and looks out

Grant’s travels with the team recently took her to Nationals Park in Washington, not far from her hometown of Falls Church. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

Grant’s landscapes are a bit vaster these days as she travels the country with the reigning National League champs. On July 16, she’ll be at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, to chronicle the 2024 MLB All-Star Game from the vantage point of the NL coaches, mostly all members of the Diamondbacks’ staff.

It’s a dream job for Grant, who quietly goes about it with a loud sense of professionalism.

“She’s a natural,” Shane Philipps, the Diamondbacks’ media relations manager, said. “She has a keen eye for capturing special moments, whether it’s on the field or in the stands or at any of our various events.

“She’s always just floating around. She’s like an eagle, always looking around at her surroundings and always getting the best of everything. And she’s the nicest person I’ve ever met, always with the best attitude. She brings so much value to the organization.”

While on Grounds, Grant went from the Cavalier Daily to interning under Matt Riley in the UVA athletics department. Riley, now the senior photographer for University Communications, calls Grant “the best intern I’ve ever had,” adding that Grant, though still a student, approached the position “like a full-time job.”

Left: Grant’s not the only recent UVA student to find work with the Diamondbacks. Former Cavalier baseball star Jake McCarthy is in his fourth season with the team. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications); Right: While interning for the UVA athletics department, Grant photographed the Wahoos in a variety of sports and settings, including football at Scott Stadium. (UVA Athletics photo)

Grant’s current stint with the Diamondbacks is her second with the franchise after working in an intern and assistant role from January 2017 through the end of the team’s 2018 season. This time around, she’s snapping pictures of a few familiar faces as former Cavalier baseball stars Jake McCarthy and Pavin Smith are in the Arizona organization.

“I always love seeing UVA people out in the wild, especially in this part of the country,” said McCarthy, the fourth-year Diamondbacks outfielder. “Kelsey’s awesome. I mean, we show up to play every day, but she’s at all our events, always on the clock.

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“We as Major League Baseball players, sometimes take for granted all the stuff that we get, including people around us who work super hard. It’s pretty cool to have someone like her on our team.”

Grant said her favorite part of the job is having the exclusive access to capture the Diamondback players and coaches beyond the public eye of the diamond. McCarthy can attest to Grant’s skills in those instances as he recently was featured in Grant’s galley of the team taking the Amtrak train from Washington to Philadelphia after a series with the Nationals and ahead of a series with the Phillies.

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“I’m around them so much that I get to know them,” Grant said, “And that allows them to be comfortable around me and show off more of their personality, which is really fun.”

About as enjoyable as a splash in the outfield pool.

“The players were chanting everyone’s name,” Grant said, grinning as she recalled those euphoric, wet scenes from last fall, “and I was one of them. I did not want to go in that pool, but I guess I’m glad I did.”

Check out a sampling of Grant's favorite photos from the Diamondbacks' 2023 run to the World Series.